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Monday, July 18, 2011

DIY Trough-thingy

Hey there all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We were away last week on a lovely family vacation – I hope to tell you more about it this week. :)

Today I wanted to share another how-to for a project from the family room redo. I’m almost done, I swear. :)

When we moved the TV over the long dresser, it meant my accessory options dwindled quite a bit. Whatever I put on there had to be long and low…and I didn’t have anything that would work.

I lived with it for a few days and then an idea came to me. I love the look of the old wood troughs I’ve seen here and there online and in antique shops. I guess they’re called troughs – I have no idea.

I just love them. :)

I knew I could make my own, so that I did. I wanted it to be longer than the TV, so I needed something 48 inches long. I went out the garage and found a scrap of thick molding used as a chair rail in our powder room:

That room has been torn apart for months now. That is how I roll.

I used that as the base, or bottom of the container, because I knew it wouldn’t be seen. For the sides, I wanted a rustic, dark wood. So I dug around the garage some more. And I found some leftover cedar from our shutter fix out front.

This is why I’m OK with the fact that we can’t walk through half of our garage. I keep all my scraps for just this. :)

The cedar has a rough side:

But that was a little too rough for me, so I went with the smooth side:

But it needed a little distressing. :)

I grabbed some tools:

And my assistant got to work:

For once Mommy said take the hammer and GO FOR IT.

We had a blast. :)

After we were done, this is what we got:

And after using a foam brush to apply a quick coat of this:

(I tell you what – stain lasts forever. I’ve had this little can for YEARS.)

We ended up with a beautiful, rustic piece of wood:

I put it together like I did the DIY window boxes I showed you here. Basically I glued and nailed the sides onto the sides of the bottom piece of wood, then capped each end off like so:

The rough end of the wood shows at each end, but that’s what I wanted. LOVE.

By the way, this is so not perfect. There’s some gaps at the ends where wood meets wood -- I just put the not-perfect side on the back. :)

I envisioned big puffy hydrangeas spilling out of it when I made this thing, and they sure don’t disappoint:

It’s deep enough so I could just put little cups of water in there, then place the flowers in. :)

I LOVE IT!:

I’m quite giddy about it’s possibilities too – piled high with acorns and leaves for fall, greenery and ornaments at Christmas, grass and Easter eggs…I could go on and on!

It’s the project that keeps on giving. :)

I did cheat on my no-spend July on this one though – kinda. Not really. I didn’t have enough cedar wood, so I returned some items to Lowes and used my credit to buy one more piece of wood. So really…it didn’t cost my anything. Technically.

I’m tricky. ;)

I love how it turned out, and I promise you can do one of these too. This one took about 40 minutes start to finish, but I used a compound saw and a nail gun, which definitely speeds up the process.

It could be done without either though – a hand saw and regular nails would work just fine (the nails would add to the rustic look!).

One more look at my DIY trough-thingamabob:

I love how well it fills in that awkward spot! If you decide to try it, I think the cedar was about $4 for an eight foot piece. You could use just about any kind of wood though – you’ll get the same effect with some distressing and stain.

There. you. go. Another family room project down! I’m working on a couple more little things this week, and I hope to show you those soon. Maybe I’ll show you another room in the meantime. :)

80 comments:

Great idea and of course I LOVE it because of the hydrangeas! We are moving our TV from above the fireplace to over a dresser I'm painting so I'll have to check yours out some more. Thanks for the inspiration!

YOU ARE GENIUS!I love it! This is so perfect for everyone who has their TV's above their mantles too! Cant wait to see how you decorate it through the seasons. Speaking of which, is anyone else getting that fall itch? lol I'm dieing for fall! Please dont disapoint on the fall decorating Sarah! lol :)

Oh how I love them - especially the hydrangeas! I made 20 of these as centerpieces for my brother's wedding - filled with preserved hydrangeas. They were a huge hit! See my post here: http://myhydrangeahome.blogspot.com/2010/11/wedding.html

This has my name written all over it. I've made a few of these on a smaller scale with pickets from the fence I tore out when I first bought my house. Those things have earned their keep around here. I LOVE me some scrap wood! I've got a tiny can of that stain and it DOES last forever!

That's so perfect, Sarah! It's so fun to see your family room from the angle in the last picture! I can't wait to see how you covered the holes from when you hung the tv on the other wall... :) Have a great week!

Yay! I've been looking forward to reading about this project since you posted pics of your new living room. What a cool idea!! You did a great job - it's beautiful. By the way, the moment I read your tip about moving all the TV equipment to underneath the dresser, we ran over and moved ours, too! Ahh! So much cleaner!! Thanks for the tips and ideas!!

I just saw this idea done somewhere recently - theirs was a bit different but you pull your off just beautifully. I love that you got your munchkin involved! And it is perfect to go under a Tv like that!Great job as always!

I don't think I have commented here before, even though I have been reading your blog for quite a while. This was such a beautiful project that I had to comment! I love the way the distressing and the stain work! The boxy thingy is great and when you mentioned all the ways it can be used I got excited to have something like that too. I love things that have multiple uses and I love seasonal decorating. I am looking forward to seeing more of your projects.

That is awesome. Inspired! On an off note - where did you get those lampshades that flank the new trough thingy? I need a good drum shade for a perfect mid-century lamp I picked up but I just can't find a good one...

Thanks for the great idea. I will have a similar space when we hang our television over the fireplace. Did i spot some formerly brass lamps in the photos? How did you get that finish on them? I painted some last week, but they are looking rather flat and bland.

I fell in love with that trough as soon as you put a picture of it up in your family redo. It's gorgeous! Kudos for making it... I never would've guessed. I think I may have to try my hand at it. And, hydrangeas add just the perfect touch! I'd love something like this for my kitchen window over my sink. Thanks for sharing!

It is beautiful! You did a great job! I have been obsessing over an antique Russian trough at an antique store. It is massive and I can just see it filled with quilts, or something of the like. I may just have to go pick that up after your trough reminded me of it =)

OK, so I rarely post comments on blogs, but I just have to do so this time. This post is exactly why you are one of my most FAVORITEST bloggers in blogland. So clever, so resourceful, so loverly. You're fabulous. Mrs. G.

I absolutely LOVE this!! And I love even more that it's cheap and easy to do. I'm adding it to my project list, and have many great spaces where I could use it! Thanks for sharing - love the hydrangeas. I have some hot pink ones sitting here on my desk. :-)

I have a question for you.......I am getting married this March at a beautiful restored cathedral turned wedding venue. It is absolutely breathtaking and has this amazing marble stage with marble steps. I envisioned having flowers along the steps with candles in between. My thought was to make shallow flower boxes and fill them with fluffy white hydrangeas. I have been searching the IInternet for tips and came across yours. Minus the rugged rustic look they are almost exactly what I am looking to make. We hAve a black tie theme so I would probably paint them white. My question is how difficult is this prone t for an amateur and how and where do you nail the pieces together?

Happy New Year! I was going through some of my pins on Pinterest and was wondering where you got the mirror that's over your console with the hydrangea trough. It's perfect for over the dresser in my master bedroom. And, yes, I did just send this to you but failed to check off my email so you could respond. Thanks so much! I really enjoy your blog!Mary Lou